I Really Like You
by DetoxAngel
Summary: To Lee, Gai is really hard not to like. GaiLee.


I Really Like You

A/N: Duuude….oh man I forgot what I was gonna say….oh wells. Enjoy. I can't think of a better title for this story.

The Lotus wasn't an easy technique, now that he thought about it, Gai-sensei had taught it to him because it was so hard. Anyway he looked at it, Gai never made things easy. Taijutsu was his life, but that really was everything to it. He had his skills and his sensei, and in the end, as a shinobi, he would probably die with much less. All the same, he looked forward to meeting his sensei on their usual training grounds at 5am everyday, with a smile and energetic eagerness. Gai always smiled back, which in turn made Lee feel like smiling even more. Of course, Gai-sensei had warned him about that.

"You don't want to grin too big Lee, it'll make your cheeks hurt, then you won't be able to do it anymore. Save those grins for special times."

He never did tell his sensei that everyday with him was a special time, but he smiled less anyway.

"Lee, don't be afraid, the technique is made to hurt not kill, you won't kill me if you try it."

But Lee didn't want to try it. Not on Gai. He didn't want to hurt him. He shook his head again. "I would much rather try it on Neji."

And Gai let out a deep hearty laugh, the one that always made Lee's heart sink to his knees.

"You'd have to catch him first, remember, he's not going to let you do that to him, unless you two were serious about hurting each other. I wouldn't let you use it on him."

"Then why make me try it on you, Gai-sensei? I cannot…"

"Lee," Gai put a big warm hand on his student's head and struck the nice-guy pose calmly, something he never did unless he was trying to make the boy trust him.

"I want you to be the best you can be at everything you do. I've been training you for three years now, and everything you've learned has been tested on yours truly. This time is no different. I'll even give my body to help you become the best, and so if I say it's okay, then Lee, trust me, alright?

Lee's head lowered with a sigh. "Alright sensei, if that is what you want me to do."

From there, the batter commenced until Gai "allowed" himself to be caught into phase one of the Lotus technique. Lee unwound the bandages on his wrists grabbed him around the middle as he was in midair. The bandages wrapped around him tightly, and Lee pressed his smaller body flush against Gai's and thrust his upper body forward, turning them upside down.

He didn't want to do it. He didn't want to see. So he closed his eyes and took them down. Down, down until he could feel the air thicken with the force of their accelerated descent, down until he could feel the nausea rise in his chest, down until he had the urge to let go, down until one last second stood between them and impact.

The crash knocked his body away from Gai's and he flew backward, hitting a tree with so much force he dented it. His head banged against the rough bark and he coughed, trying to clear his throat of the dust he inhaled when they hit the ground. Then he remembered.

"Gai-sensei!" Despite his headache, he shot up and ran over to the cloud of smoke where they landed and almost jumped a foot in air when he saw Gai, stuck upside down like a flower in a garden, his head imbedded in the rocks, feet twitching in the air.

"Gai-sensei!" Grabbing his legs, Lee pulled, but Gai was heavy so he grounded his feet and gave an extra hard yank and pulled him free, both of them tumbling back down.

He scrambled out from under Gai's weight and searched for any signs of his sensei being seriously hurt. He franticly but gently pushed Gai's head to the left and to the right, making sure it wasn't broken. It limply followed his hand and he panicked, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

"Gai-sensei! Please wake up! I am sorry, I did not want to do it! You made me! I told you no, and you told me---I knew I should not have listened this time!" He cradled his sensei's head, whimpering, his eyes shut tightly as he tried to decide what he was going to do.

"Lee…"

His eyes shot open wide with surprise when he heard the familiar voice. Gai was alright!

"You did great…"

"Gai-sensei! Why did you not wake up the first time? Do not make me do this again, I will not!"

Gai sat up, holding his head. He hadn't been lying, Lee's Lotus was very good for his first try, of course, they would have to perfect it.

"Yes you will Lee. You'll do it as much times as I tell you to, until it's perfect."

Lee groaned inwardly. _'Do not say it like that sensei.' _He didn't make it obvious, or he tried very hard not to, but he'd had the most obscene crush on his sensei since….forever. As long as he could remember, he and Gai had been practically joined at the hips since they met. It didn't happen immediately, but when it did, Lee was already old enough and mature enough to know exactly what was happening to him. Suddenly Gai just became that much more appealing than Lee's innocent eyes had realized. The way the man thrust out his hips in victory or the way he posed, his tall well built body made Lee blush when he noticed that people would be looking at him strangely when his sensei did these things. But Lee really wanted to be like Gai, so he emulated him in almost everyway, minus the hip thrusting and posing, he didn't know what he would do if he did it the wrong way and Gai had to teach him how. Well, he figured he might die of embarrassment, but that was about it. Whenever he got something wrong, any little thing that marred his performance or image as the student of Maito Gai, Gai would teach him how to do it the right way, despite all the pleas Lee had that he could learn fine on his own.

Then there was the real reason he hadn't wanted to do the Lotus.

Sure he was afraid Gai would get hurt, but he really did trust the man. He just didn't want to touch him. Like that. With his arms around him, his entire from molded to the man's back. Not like that. Oh God, he tried not to pay attention, he really did think he had hurt his sensei, but his sinful mind, oh his wicked mind had betrayed him at the last moment. Even on their way down he could feel it, the familiar twitching heat in his lower extremities, pressed so close to Gai, Lee hoped he didn't feel it. At least he wasn't attracted to Neji.

If not this time, then surely one of the next. He could whine all he wanted, but Gai wasn't going to let him slide on just 'good'. The Lotus had to be perfect, and that meant more practicing, which meant he was looking at the worst future of his life. It was better to tell Gai what was happening than having him find out in some terribly embarrassing way that would send Lee home in tears.

But when he looked up at Gai, who was dusting his vest off, paying special attention to the dirt on his green jumpsuit, Lee found that he couldn't. Not then, not ever. He would just have to find some way to lessen the damage it would do when Gai found out on his own.

"That's enough of that for today, let's get to training. Don't feel bad, Lee. I'm fine, I didn't take the full impact, if I did, I wouldn't be standing here."

"Will you not try to escape in the future?"

Damn! That wasn't what he wanted.

"Of course. I can't let you take me down all the time."

Lee wished he'd never asked, but was glad he did. It would be mortifyingly embarrassing if Gai started to _move _while he had him in the Lotus position. Oh….

He had a suddenly terrifying thought. What if Gai tried the Lotus on him? No, Lee thought. He wouldn't be able to hide it them. With Gai up against him that way, he'd have a heart attack followed by a nosebleed that would inevitably end in an untimely death by embarrassment.

He had to know….

"Gai-sensei, will you try the Lotus with me as well? I mean, will I be the only one?"

Gai looked at him and he couldn't, for the life of him fight down the urge to blush. He turned away with the excuse of rewrapping his bandages.

"Yes, I will be teaching you how to counter the Lotus….why?"

"No reason!" Lee snapped and almost strangled himself with his bandages at the quickness of his answer.

Gai stared at him for a minute. "Lee is there something wrong?"

Oh shit. Lee didn't turn around. He couldn't, he was blushing too furiously. "N-no Gai-sensei, I am fine."

"Okay….well, hurry up and come at me."

"Okay."

Four hours later and Lee was struggling just to keep conscious. Gai had worn him out, as he always did and now he was laid out in the field, huffing and puffing, in pain, but tired. How was he going to get home if he couldn't move? Usually they just stayed there until they could move again and practically crawled home. All of a sudden he felt his tired body leaving the ground at a shaky pace. He hadn't the strength to whine his way into walking home by himself so he let himself be carried by Gai, who was really in no condition to be lifting him up, but Lee couldn't tell him so.

They went to Gai's apartment, which he'd only been two four times in his life and only on certain occasions. He hadn't even noticed where they'd been heading until it was too late. It was such a shame that Gai's house was closer than his was. He instantly wanted to be put down.

"Gai-sensei, let me walk, I…."

"No Lee, you're in no shape to be moving around. I've got some food pills there, I forgot to bring them with me this morning."

So that was why they were at his place. Still, Lee could feel the shudder of fear crawl up his spine. He didn't want to be at Gai's apartment with him. Alone.

_'Dear god help me.'_

"Did you say something, Lee?"

Had he said that out loud?

"Nothing sensei."

They got into Gai's apartment with a push of the man's hips and Gai tripped into the living room with Lee in his arms and gently put him on the couch. Then he stood back and watched the boy. Lee wasn't looking at him but he had tried to sit up, wincing at the pain.

"Sit still, I'll be right back."

Gai limped off somewhere and Lee finally looked up and sighed in relief. He looked around the room. The place was simple, but very….green. He liked it. He must have been staring into space for a long time because he hadn't noticed that Gai was kneeling in front of him and watching him carefully.

Gai thought something was wrong with his youthful student. Lee was never so distracted as he was today. Was he sick? He wondered how long he could stare at the boy before he finally snapped out of it. He had been kneeling there for over a minute, and Lee still hadn't noticed.

"Lee." He said softly, but Lee jumped and screamed in pain so fast one would think he had yelled in the boy's ear.

"Sensei! Oh, I am sorry I did not know you were there!"

Lee's face turned pink with embarrassment. How had Gai gotten so close without him noticing?

"Here, it's a food pill."

Lee tiredly took it and popped it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing. He started to feel better and as soon as he could walk, he was going to leave.

"Stay for dinner Lee."

Oh god.

"Um…sensei, well I, I wasn't going to go home…."

'_And take a cold shower.' _

"Nonsense Lee. There's nobody there waiting for you, unless there is and that's what's been distracting you today."

Shit, he'd noticed! Lee ran a hand through his hair and looked away nervously. Should he lie?

"A-alright. I will stay, but only for a little while."

Gai went into the kitchen. "Really, that's too bad. I was hoping that you could spend the night so we could talk."

Talk? About what?! Lee shot up in his seat protesting. "That is okay Gai-sensei, I will just go home. We can talk tom---

"We don't have time to talk while we're training and it's been a while since we have. Stay Lee."

What was he going to do? He couldn't stay, he just couldn't. He was going to die! All alone in a tiny _one bedroom_ apartment with a man that could move his hips with more sensuality than a stripper. And such nice hips. Attached to an even nicer body. He'd seen Gai shirtless once, and he went home and spent the night in the shower in ice cold water, muttering to himself how evil it was to enjoy the view. If that happened again, he couldn't run home. What was he going to do?

"G-Gai-sensei?"

Rummaging in the kitchen, Gai looked around fruitlessly for those spaghetti noodles he _thought _were there, but didn't seem to be anymore. Had someone come to rob him? He knew he had them…somewhere. Oh well, he closed the cupboard and went into the living room where Lee sat awkwardly like he was in the home of some weirdo he didn't know to tell him that they were ordering out. Lee said his name, stuttering, which was not unusual these days. He shook his head; better make it a big meal, because they had a lot to talk about judging by the way his student was looking around, like he was searching for an excuse to leave.

"What is it, Lee? You ready to tell me what's on your mind?"

_'Never.'_

But Lee didn't say that. He'd have to tell Gai sometime….just not then.

"It is nothing sensei, really." He lied. He never wanted to lie to Gai-sensei, but this time, the lie was necessary.

'_You would hate me.' _He thought solemnly.

"Are you sure? For a second there you looked like a kicked puppy. Come on, Lee, you know you can talk to me about anything. Is it Sakura Haruno?"

Lee shook his head. Sakura wasn't nearly beautiful enough to make his bones turn to jelly on sight. Not like Gai-sensei was.

"Uh, well, I won't force you to tell me…

Good.

"….but I hope you can, when you're ready. If it's something you wish to keep to yourself, then you know it's going to affect your training, much like it did today. I only want to help you Lee, but I can't if you don't let me."

Lee's kicked-puppy look returned. "I know." But he couldn't. He couldn't say it. But he had to. When the food arrived, so he had something else to occupy his attention other than concerned face of his troubles. God, the man haunted his very dreams, with that heart-melting smile, his cheerful, carefree attitude and that body. Lee loved everything about his sensei. He knew it was wrong. He couldn't help it. Gai had everything Lee wanted, he was nice to him, caring, loving, funny, beautiful, and nobody made Lee feel the way Gai did. Sakura never even came close.

Naturally, he knew he would be attached to Gai, for the man was practically his guardian. Yet he found himself wanting more from that pillar of perfection he called his teacher. Love. That was what he wanted. He wanted Gai to love him, the way he never should but Lee so desperately wanted him to. He didn't know it would get so bad that he cried himself to sleep some days, or that he would stalk the man on their days off, just for a few moments, and watch him live his life without Lee.

It was unnerving to be without him, but he liked that he could look at Gai with his heart so far down in his legs it touched his feet, and he didn't know. Nobody had to know. Especially not Gai.

"I am sure I will be fine soon. I must be getting sick."

'_Yes, I am sick. Sick for wanting you. If you knew, Gai-sensei, you would not let a wicked person like me sit on your couch. You would not look into my eyes with such caring, but with disgust. You would not love me. I cannot ever tell you. Even if it upsets you, even if my Taijutsu is not perfect ever again, you cannot ever know. What would I do if you hated me? I would die. Literally, I would dry up inside and waste away without you. Please do not press this issue. I must learn to deal with this by myself, even though it is killing me.'_

"What do you want to eat tonight? I've got the menu for Rinchuu's Taiwanese take-out, the Ichiraku Noodle shop, the Lee you better talk to me or else shop."

Lee wanted to say he wasn't hungry, but he realized that something Gai said didn't sound like any shop he knew. He looked up from his eyes' perch on the arm of the couch and almost bit his lip. Gai was looking directly at him, closer than Lee thought he would be, just staring. Lee couldn't stop the horribly red blush that burned his cheeks as he looked away.

A few seconds of silence passed, then, "Oh," from Gai.

Oh? What did that mean? Lee wondered.

"Oh…" Gai said again, moving back a bit.

"Lee…?"

Lee cursed himself in his head, wondering if he looked too strange blushing the way he was that would make Gai get it in his head that---

"Is what's bothering you….is it me?"

Lee didn't show how stricken he really was with Gai's question, but instead he nodded once, stiffly.

Gai knew he was on to something, knew that if he asked he wouldn't get an answer, but if he suggested what he was thinking and was wrong, that he would make Lee upset. He treaded carefully, deciding that Lee's nod was the first step.

"Did I or am I doing something that's making you uncomfortable?" He asked carefully, looking at Lee's sad face, his heart clenching softly. He didn't know what was hurting his usually youthful student, but if it was him, he wanted to know what it was so he could stop it immediately. Except, he wasn't sure he was doing anything he didn't normally do.

Lee shook his head no this time, making Gai confused. If it wasn't that….

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

At that Lee stood up so quickly he almost knocked over the coffee table. "No. I have to go." He turned and made a quick stride to the front door but Gai caught his arm and yanked him back.

"Lee, wait! I'm sorry!" The boy stopped, but didn't look at him. He had been right.

"Lee….how long have you…? I mean…"

Lee was silent. So Gai had figured it out. It wasn't the way he wanted things to go, but it was better than saying it.

"You don't have to say it. I know now and I'm not upset with you at all." He smiled, hoping his words would get Lee to look up at him and see for himself. Lee did look at him, shocked and confused.

"W-what? I do not understand."

"It's not that hard Lee. I do."

"But I am….I am your student, I should not feel this way about you. You do not have to pretend to be understanding and forgiving. I---

He was abruptly silenced by a sharp tug on his arm and warm, soft lips on his own, and his already wide eyes got impossibly wider, his long eyelashes fluttering against Gai's. When he realized what was happening, his knees lost their rigidity and he fell into Gai, moaning helplessly into the Jounin's mouth. Gai held him close to keep him from falling and kissed him tenderly for a few more seconds then slowly pulled away, letting the boy go to crumble to his knees in front of him.

Lee stared at the floor for some time before he finally averted his wide. teary, onyx eyes up to Gai, and asked in a pitiful voice, "Why?"

And that was the easy part. Telling the boy that he wasn't the only one.

"Lee, I've grown more attached to you over the years than any sensei should become with their student. I didn't know why at first, but when I realized it, I panicked too. You haven't lived long enough to get used to the things that are pointless and hopeless. I thought the worst when you began to start acting strange. I thought you didn't want to be around me anymore, but looking closer I recognized some of the things I saw in my own mirror and saw that it didn't have to be hopeless or pointless. I could love you because you love me. Now I can get used to having the things that give me hope, instead of what I could not hope to have."

"You sit there, and you ask me why, but don't you know, Lee? You're beautiful and I've always loved you."

Those big shining eyes made his chest swell with emotion and his arms ache to hold Lee's smaller body against his own until he was sure, positive, that the boy was never going to hurt again without him. Lee would never feel pain again if he could help it, and he would sooner die than cause him any.

"Gai-sensei…" Lee whimpered.

The man smiled down at him before lowering himself to the floor to hug him, telling him that it was alright and that he would never hurt him. Lee believed it wholeheartedly and clutched on to Gai's shirt as tight as he could, still reeling at his luck. Gai loved him, how much luckier could he be?

"So what do you want to eat, Lee? I've got menu's from all over."

Lee blushed and shook his head. He started to tell Gai how he had lost his appetite because he was so happy.

"No, I actually am not---

"Ichiraku's it is!"

END.

My first crappy GaiLee. I really do hope that someone enjoyed it. I tried as hard as I could to keep it short, but I never was very good at short stories.


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